Abbott, Jacob. The Young Christian: or A Familiar Illustration of the Principles of Christian Duty. New-York: American Tract Society, ca. 1848. [9638]
Black calf spine with gilt lines & title, olive blindstamped cloth boards, 7 1/4 x 4 3/4 inches, frontispiece "The Murderer," extra engraved title page of a skating scene, 395 unmarked pp., foxed throughout, tight. Good. Hardcover.
First published in Boston, 1832. This copy carries the 1832 copyright, but the style of text & imprint indicates a printing date around 1848.
"As to the theology of the work, it takes every where for granted that salvation is to be obtained through repentance for past sin, and trust for forgiveness in the atonement of Jesus Christ. It is not, however, a work on theology. It is designed to enforce the practice, not to discuss the theory of religion. Its object is to explain and illustrate Christian duty; but it exhibits this duty as based on those great principles in which all denominations of evangelical Christians concur." - Introduction.
The engravings are by Asher Brown Durand (1796-1886), engraver and painter, a charter member of the National Academy. - Hamilton, Early American Illustrators & Book Engravers, vol. i. p. 121.
Jacob Abbott (1803-1879), b. Hallowell, ME; d. Farmington, ME. He was graduated at Bowdoin College, and studied divinity at Andover. Ordained as a Congregational minister, he was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in Amherst College (1825-1829), founder of the Mount Vernon School for Girls (Boston), and organizer of the Eliot Church in Roxbury. In 1839 he moved to Farmington, Maine, where he devoted the rest of his life to literary labor.
"A complete catalogue of his works (which are chiefly for the young) would considerably exceed 200 titles...He also edited, with additions, several historical textbooks, and compiled a series of school readers." - Appleton's Encyclopedia.